A group of Jewish elders chained themselves to the fence outside the White House on Monday to demand that President Joe Biden end his opposition to a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where almost all of the population is deprived. adequate foodclean water and proper medical care as Israel’s assault continues with no end in sight.
“Biden, Biden, choose your side, ceasefire, not genocide!” » chanted the demonstrators, who wore shirts reading “Not in our name”.
Eighteen women took part in the civil disobedience, which took place hours before the annual Hanukkah celebration at the White House.
“Don’t let them tell you it’s complicated,” said Karen Ackerman, former political director of the AFL-CIO and participant in Monday’s protest. “The Palestinians are being massacred. Not just by bombs, but also by starvation. It has never been more important that we act.”
While chained to the White House fence, the elders read aloud the names of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since October, starting with the 93-year-old. Mahdiya Abdullah Abdul Wahab Halawa.
“My family survived the Holocaust, so I know the price of silence,” said Deb Kaplan, an advocate for reproductive justice and maternal and child health. “I refuse to shut up now.”
The 18 demonstrators were arrested.
The demonstration occurred in the middle of a global day of action calling for an end to Israeli attack on Gaza following US veto of a ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council late last week.
As elders chained themselves to the White House fence, protesters gathered in the Senate atrium to demand that the United States stop supplying weapons to the Israeli military, which has used American-made weapons commit atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. Senate is currently debating an additional foreign aid package that includes more than 10 billion dollars in military assistance to Israel, which already receives nearly $4 billion a year in American military aid.
On Friday, the US State Department officially moved to bypass the Congressional review process to send 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel. As The New York TimesreportedThe State Department informed congressional committees that it was moving forward with the sale just before midnight Friday.
“Our district did not send President Biden to the White House to facilitate the murder of innocent civilians. We did not come in large numbers to elect President Biden to provide the bombs necessary for genocide ” the representative said. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said in a statement Monday. “This administration’s refusal to recognize the human dignity of Palestinians is disturbing, and actions like this speak loud and clear.”
Biden administration officials have publicly urged Israel must take concrete steps to protect civilians in Gaza, but there is no evidence that Israel has changed its blind approach. According to an estimation90% of the more than 21,022 people killed by Israeli forces over the past two months were civilians.
“Israel is murdering elders, children, doctors, journalists, academics, poets,” said Rosalind Petchesky, who joined Monday’s protest outside the White House. “We demand an end to this cataclysmic nightmare.”